Celebration of diversity

Attending ABC’s S’mores event

Photo Courtesy of Dumitru B- Pexels

In a perfect world, human diversity would be widely celebrated, accepted, and cultivated—not only in some places, sometimes, when convenient. This world is nowhere near perfect, though, and often diversity is exclusively celebrated when found to be convenient.

How can we, the youth, begin to change this? Little by little, we celebrate. SUNY Geneseo, while a relatively small school, does a particularly good job of creating opportunities for students to celebrate and learn from one another’s differences.

Recently, I had the privilege of attending ABC’s S’mores event, hosted by Geneseo’s African Student Association (ASA), Black Student Union (BSU), and Caribbean Student Association (CSA). On the surface, it was a fairly simple event: students gathered, made s’mores, talked, and spent time together. However, what stood out to me the most was the variety of students who chose to attend.

As reported by Niche, Geneseo is a predominantly white campus, making events organized around and celebrating Black and Caribbean cultures particularly important. However, the s’mores event was not limited to students who identified within those communities. Students of different races, ages, and genders were present, establishing a space where people could meet and interact outside of their usual circles.

This kind of interaction can be easy to overlook. College students naturally tend to form groups based on their classes, majors, residence halls, extracurricular activities, or existing friendships. While there is nothing inherently wrong with that, it can also mean that we spend much of our time around people whose experiences are similar to our own.

Events like ABC’s S’mores provide an opportunity to break out of those routines without requiring anything particularly formal. There was no lecture or structured discussion about diversity. Instead, students were simply given a reason to gather. Conversations developed naturally, and people had the opportunity to learn about organizations and communities they might not otherwise encounter.

Geneseo has several resources and organizations dedicated to making campus a welcoming environment for students from different backgrounds. Students can participate in cultural organizations, attend campus events, and report incidents of bias or discrimination through the appropriate university resources. These systems are important, particularly when students encounter experiences that make them feel unwelcome or unsafe.

Still, inclusion on a college campus is not created solely through policies—it is shaped by everyday interactions between students. A student deciding to attend an event they normally would not have attended may seem like an insignificant detail. So might introducing yourself to someone new, listening to another person’s experiences, or learning about a culture you are unfamiliar with. None of these actions will eliminate discrimination, and they certainly will not solve every problem surrounding diversity. They can, however, make a campus feel a little smaller and more connected.

What I found most notable about the s’mores event was that diversity did not feel like a topic that needed to be formally addressed. It was simply present. Students came together because they wanted to spend time with others, and in doing so, created an environment where differences could exist without becoming barriers.

This may be one of the more realistic ways for young people to add to a more inclusive community. We do not always need a large movement or a dramatic gesture. Sometimes, it is as simple as showing up.

Geneseo is not a perfect example of diversity, nor should any college claim to be. There will always be room for improvement, and there will always be students whose experiences differ from one another; still, events like the gathering for s’mores demonstrate that creating a welcoming campus does not always have to be complicated.

Sometimes, diversity starts with a fire pit, a conversation, and a group of people willing to share the same space. Little by little, we celebrate.